Hydraulic



ENOCH THOMAS, OF BEVERLY, AND WM. vK. HALL, OF PHILLIPPA, VIRGINIA;

HYDRAULIC ENGINE.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, ENoor-I THOMAS, of Beverly, in the county ofRandolph and State of Virginia, and WM. K. HALL, of Phillippa, in thecounty of Barbour and State of Virginia, have invented a new and usefulImprovement in Hydraulic Engines; and we do hereby declare that thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of thisspecification, in which- Figure 1, represents a side view, and Fig. 2, avertical longitudinal section of the machine.

Similar letters of yreference in each of the figures indicatecorresponding parts.

The nature of our invention consists in the arrangement of a swinginggate and concentric seat, in combination with a swinging valve andcurved abutment faces, all being arranged and operated substantially inthe manner and for the purpose hereinafter set forth. y

To enable others, skilled in the art, to make and use our invent-ion, wewill proceed to describe its construction and operation.

I, I, are two rectangular pistons which work in corresponding boxes J, JThe cross heads l?, P, of the two piston rods are connected by a frameK, K, to which may be hung a pitman N, for driving machinery forelevating water and transmitting power to any desired point. A swingingvalve F, F, serves to open and cut off communication alternately betweeneither of the two boxes J J, and the column of water and thereby imparta reciprocating motion to the pistons I, I.

The faces G, G, of the valve F, F, work in contact with the curved edgesH, H, of the piston boxes, and the upper edges of the inclined valvesurfaces F, F', work in contact with the curved faces E, E', of thecentral abutment. The rocking shaft Q, of the valve F, F, forms thecenter of the circular curvatures of the faces G, G, H, H', and E, E. f

The lever M, and crank S, serve to impart the rocking motion to theshaft Q.

A swinging gate A, B, is arranged in the 30,844, cated December i, aseo.1

top part of the valve box, its upper edge playing across the mouth C, ofthe flume through which the water enters. The lower edge of the gatemoves in contact with a circular seat D, in the top of the abutmentpiece. This circular seat is of course concentric with the shaft T, onwhich the gate swings. A crank U, at the end of shaft T, takes into theslotted end of lever M, the same as crank S, and imparts in this mannera swinging motion to the shaft and gate. The lower arm of lever M, playsbetween and is operated by two pins L, L, projecting from frame K.

The operation of the machine is as follows:The upper edge of gate A, B,being at one side of the mouth C, the column of water is incommunication with the box J, and acts against piston I. By the time thepiston has arrived nearlyat the extreme end of its reciprocating motion,one of the pins L, L, strikes the lower arm of lever M, so as to causethe valve face G, to risewhile the other valve face G", descends-andallow the water which has acted upon piston I, to escape below the underedge of valve-face G, while the piston returns to its original position.

As the lower arm of the lever M, is acted upon by the pin L, the gate A,B, is caused to swing back so that its upper edge rests against theopposite edge of mouth C. The column of water is therefore made tocommunicate with the other piston box and operate its piston in the samemanner as already described. i

The crossheads of the two piston rods being connected to the same frameK, this frame will receive a reciprocating motion which may be impartedto a pitman N, for the purpose of driving machinery. This pitman mayalso be employed to operate an air condensing pump and the air thuscondensed may be carried through suitable pipes to any spot where motivepower is required.

From the above explanation of the operation of our engine it will beapparent that no further shock is sustained by the descending column ofwater at'the time of reversing the gate and valve, than is necessary toovercome the inertia of the piston and its frame, ment faces E, E, H,H-, all being arranged the ingress and egress passages being at all andoperated substantially in the manner 10 times free. and for the purposeset forth.

Vhat We claim asvour invention and de- ENOCH THOMAS. 5 sire to secure byLetters Patent, is- WILLIAM K. HALL.

The arrangement of a swinging gate A, B, /Vtnesses: and oonoentro seatD, in combination with L. D. MORRALL, a swinging valve F, F, and curvedabut- A. Gr. RYEN.

